Time division multiplexers and demultiplexers are known in the art and are used to collect and distribute data, respectively. Receive equipment distributes data in a fixed manner once the equipment has been designed. The data distribution is sequential. Once a channel is allotted a bit or frame position in a data stream, it will receive that bit or frame and only that bit or frame.
The standard approach for independently distributing data involves storing the data in a random access memory and using a significant amount of logic to gate the data to the correct channels. This is a cumbersome method and in a system with a significant number of channels would be very expensive.